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Vicky Krieps prepared for M. Night Shyamalan’s movie by copying her grandmother

Actor Vicky Krieps has revealed that in preparation for M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming thriller movie, Old, the star turned to her family for inspiration. During an interview with The Digital Fix, Krieps shared that to show a realistic depiction of ageing for the movie, she copied her grandmother.

Based on Pierre Oscar Lévy’s and Frederik Peeters’ graphic novel Sandcastle, Old is a chilling movie about a supernatural force that accelerates time. A family find themselves on a beach, and watch each other age rapidly, seeing their lives literally flash before their eyes. Krieps plays Prisca, a self-assured mother of two, and one of the many characters trying to escape the deadly beach before time runs out. To capture the physicality of getting older, Krieps told us her preparation, and how she put many personal observations into her process.

“I kind of prepared the physicality of getting older, that’s something I did,” Krieps told us. “Just closing my eyes and thinking of my grandmother, and walking in my hotel room, just walking up and down, and trying to find ways of how I would walk, or how my grandmother used to walk.”

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Besides considering how to move her body, the actor also thought of her grandmother when considering what her face should portray during filming. “Her eyes, I remember they were like children’s eyes when she got older, and how old people suddenly become so open. You know?” Krieps said. “It’s like suddenly they are so present and open, and curious. So these were things that I was trying to prepare.”

Despite acting in more muted and chronologically filmed projects in the past, like the romance movie Phantom Thread, the star revealed she had no trouble taking on high stakes. “Working with Night as a director was very natural,” she explained. “It didn’t feel like something I had to adapt to or think about.”

Old releases across cinemas in the UK and US on July 23. We also got a chance to speak to Hereditary star Alex Wolff about his experiences working on M. Night Shyamalan’s new movie. Be sure to check out our interviews to get all the info about the upcoming film.